Current Watching

[Tony C]

The new Netflix film adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's 'Rebecca' has been kicked around the block by critics but we watched it anyway and quite enjoyed it.

[Lang Spoon]

Ben Wheatley has had a strange career.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Cleared the first two seasons of Taxi on DVD, culminating in the two-part fantasy episode that everyone remembers, in which Alex can't come up with a fantasy without them being ruined by some detail, and Nardo turns the depot into a Broadway show. As far as I can tell that is the extent of what is available on DVD in the UK, and as noted elsewhere it doesn't turn up anywhere and and while it was nice to go back to and dip into, I'm not going to bother sourcing the later seasons on North American DVD or anything.

Quickfire clear this week of the DVDs of 15 Storeys High which I'd lent to someone years ago and only just got back. Holds up on its own, but while it was quite innovative at the time there has been so much like it since that it doesn't stand out.

Still wary of launching into a big run of something, so have been picking off items from the movie watchlist - Time on Amazon Prime is well worth seeking out (they don't seem to be pushing it much, even though I believe they funded much of its cost).

[hobbes]

15 Stories High is fantastic.

[Toby Gymshorts]

"All the energy of a rat, in a can."

15 Storeys is brilliant and everyone should see it.

[WOM]

I'm 8 minutes into 'The Sofa' and I'm loving it already.

[Ginger Yellow]

Holds up on its own, but while it was quite innovative at the time there has been so much like it since that it doesn't stand out.

There has? Like what?

It always amuses me to see Benedict Wong in serious stuff these days, as he'll always be Errol to me. There he is in The Martian, striving to save someone's life, and all I can think is "Come and clean your hands on me coat"

[Benjm]

I'm watching Red Line 7000 on Talking Pictures. It's a 1965 film directed by Howard Hawks that is basically Peyton Place goes banger racing, with added go-go dancing. James Caan is notional lead in an ensemble piece and looks, I swear, absolutely nothing like he did in his '70s pomp. He is sporting a super square Adam West haircut, which is a big factor. If anything, he more resembles son Scott in the Hawaii 5-0 reboot. Anyhow, the colours are bright, the threads cool and...look out, look out, look out!!

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

There has? Like what?

Just think that form of absurd situations in everyday life comedy seemed to become more accepted after that time (early days of BBC Three) and even seems fairly mainstream in the US now.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Another binge watch clearance, this time of the DVD box set of Our Friends in the North, which has bent my head time-wise. When it was first shown I was not much older than the characters were at the start of the story, and now I'm not much younger than they were at the end. January next year will be the 25th anniversary of its showing, so maybe they'll do something but the usual wiki hole that these things start reveals the following:

The BBC's existing agreements with various music publishers and record labels meant that the production team was easily able to obtain the rights to use most of the desired songs. A particular piece of synchronicity occurred in the final episode, 1995, which Cellan Jones had decided to close with the song "Don't Look Back in Anger" by Oasis. While the serial was in production, it was just another track from their (What's the Story) Morning Glory? album. However, during transmission of Our Friends in the North, it was released as a single, and to Cellan Jones's delight, it was at the top of the UK Singles Chart in the week of the final episode's transmission.

...so maybe it is one of these things that gets stuck in a stalemate around music rights, particularly around streaming.

And even further down the wiki hole, the actress who plays Nicky's mam (Freda Dowie) was from Carlisle, a fact I was ignorant of until today. She put a fair shift in:

Her television credits include: Dixon of Dock Green, Doomwatch, Edna, the Inebriate Woman, Upstairs, Downstairs, The Carnforth Practice, I, Claudius, The Old Curiosity Shop, The Pickwick Papers, Lillie, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Our Friends in the North, Common As Muck, Lovejoy, Poirot and Heartbeat.

Dowie frequently portrayed long-suffering roles, most notably as the Mother in the 1988 film Distant Voices, Still Lives, for which she was nominated for a European Film Award. Her film career also includes roles in Subterfuge (1968), The Omen (1976), The Monk (1990), Butterfly Kiss (1995), Jude (1996), Cider with Rosie (1998), and Fragile (2005).

[Hot Pepsi]

I’m getting into The Queen’s Gambit so far. I’m not interested in chess, but I’m intrigued by people that are obsessed with it.

[Tony C]

A note for people who might be interested in watching 'Inheritance' on Netflix.

Don't.

[G-Man]

Emily in Paris is the third one. Now, expectations are set pretty low for a Darren Star made Netflix show. And they are matched. Total, utter schlock with lots of cliched stereotypes. If you merged Sex and the City with 90210 and stuck it in Paris while pretending to understand social media.... well... yeah. But, if Cobra Kai and old episodes of Storage Wars are too intellectual for you, and you're really that tired after a day's work or need to completely switch out of thinking about anything at all, it kinda works. I fully don't recommend it.

We watched it, with a similar low set of expectations, and rather enjoyed it, in a confectionary way. I'm a sucker for rom-coms, and I rather like Paris. Plus Phil Collins' daughter is very charming indeed, and not bad to look at (I like a woman with strong eyebrows, and she has more hair on her brows than dad has on his head). It was nice to see a show of that kind where there are no cartoonish nasties -- I had feared that this might turn out to be Ugly Betty in Paris, but even the most villainous character is reasonable.

The last three episodes were poor, but the seven that preceded them were pleasant enough.

[Tratorello]

A note for people who might be interested in watching 'Inheritance' on Netflix.

Don't.

Unfortunately this warning came too late for us.

[Tony C]

Unfortunately this warning came too late for us.

"Simon Pegg's in it, how bad can it be?"

Well now we know.

[Tratorello]

On the plus side, we watched "Knives Out" a couple of nights ago and that was truly excellent.

I've always been fairly ambivalent about Daniel Craig but I thought he was brilliant in this.

[slackster]

Watched the new Borat film on Amazon Prime. It was alright. A few laughs and toe-curling moments.

[Tratorello]

Watched the new Borat film on Amazon Prime. It was alright. A few laughs and toe-curling moments.

Yeah, we watched it today as well and thought much the same. It has some bits where I was practically watching it through my fingers.

[Hot Pepsi]

Queens Gambit is very entertaining. It starts as a sad story about an orphan in Kentucky and ends like Rocky IV.

It feels like a true story but in reality, there hasn’t been a female #1 chess player, let alone an American one in the 60s. And it shows her tournaments as mostly knock out cup tournaments. But that isn’t how chess works, is it? There are a lot of draws, I thought so it’s not like that, is it?

[pebblethefish]

Modern Family is, I realise, a huge show but one that has completely passed me by. This is a bit like admitting that I'd never seen The Simpsons. Anyway seen about six Modern Family episodes from Series 1 earlier and haven't laughed so much in ages. Terrifically well written gags and great characters. Little Manny is an absolute gem.

Only twelve years too late.

As a result of this post, I gave Modern Family a go over the weekend. While not loving it, I managed to get through 22 episodes in 3 days, so it's certainly easy to watch.

[slackster]

This could go in the WTF? thread, but watched I’m Thinking Of Ending Things film on Netflix. Didn’t have a scooby what it was all about yet it was still pretty mesmerising. 2 tortuous road trip for a couple in the snow, an awkward dinner with parents, a stop at a sort-of Dairy Queen, and an old High School which centred around the janitor bumbling about. Lots of cultural and philosophical musings. And Oklahoma! the musical. FIN.

I did read up on it after which made it a teeny bit clearer what the hell was going on, but you’d never guess it just from the movie itself.

[Hot Pepsi]

I gave up on that pretty quickly. I read about the story it was based on and it sounded like the film version was much more confusing and ambiguous and I just don't want to put up with that shit right now or maybe ever.

It occurs to me that that's the sort of thing I would have really wanted to see in college or any time in my 20s and talk to other people about so I could feel like I was challenging myself and learning about cinema. But I just do not give a shit about that director bullshit any more. Don't get me wrong. I don't want to watch The Bachelorette or whatever. But just give me something that tells a cohesive story that makes sense and makes me care about the characters somehow. The Twilight Zone was excellent at this. It could be a mystery and still not be frustrating.

[slackster]

I don’t blame you, HP. But though me and the missus were going “eh?” and “wtf!” at regular intervals, it was an intriguing watch with good acting, great visuals and some pseudy-wisecracking dialogue. Reminded me of late 60s Godard in its inpenatrableness.

[Hot Pepsi]

I feel like I'm becoming anti-intellectual or anti-art and I don't want to be, but I feel almost resentful when I try to watch something like that. I felt a little better when Mark Maron said that he didn't want to watch it either.

Although, at least I'm Thinking of Ending Things seemed to have a point. It was about trauma and loss and stuff. A lot of "challenging" programs seem to just be inscrutable for it's own sake. I blame Lost for that. I gave up on that after season 1 because it seemed to really not be about anything but itself.* I felt like that about The Third Day. In both cases, I do really like the actors involved, but it's just not for me right now.


*At the time, TiVo and digital cable systems that allowed you to easily catch-up with shows was a novelty, and it seemed to just be designed to take advantage of that. In the past, there's just no way you could build an audience if everyone had to see every episode. But now that's just taken for granted and sharing "theories" etc online just seems tedious.

[Amor de Cosmos]

I gave up on that after season 1 because it seemed to really not be about anything but itself.* I felt like that about The Third Day.

The Third Day was pretty clearly about parenthood, especially motherhood, on both loving and debased levels. Other things too, but predominately that. I agree 'enjoy' might not be a good description of the experience, but 'irresistible' fits.